Around Town

 

We had one of those magical mornings this week when it was around zero and the mist was rising off the lake.  I got a good view of it but not a good pic from East Hill, but Jen stopped at Taughannock on her way to work to take this one.

Something going on with the metabolism of the amphibians on the building next door.  They are not bothered by the cold.

Just how much salt can we keep putting on the streets?  The City is trying to find out.  At least with the lack of snow, the white streets reflect the sunlight rather than absorb it.  Hey, we've got to do whatever it takes to reduce global warming.

Verizon finally got around to fixing this phone.  Now if they'd only bring back the ABC Cafe.

These guys were taking advantage of rare conditions in Six Mile Creek.  I didn't ask if they had permission, sometimes COE gets it in exchange for doing things with kids at GIAC or the YB.

More Bills Heartbreak

 

You'd think they'd learn from their elders, but no.  Another generation out to have their hopes crushed.  Maybe next year Dori.

Finally Skiing

Things were not looking good when we were well into January with little snow or cold.  The warning signs are everywhere.

 Finally, they got enough out in the hills, barely, for some decent skiing.  It really wasn't enough snow to ski on, but it was preceded by an ice storm so the ground was coated with ice that protected skis from being damaged going over rocks.  It was pretty important not to fall.  Andy, Steve and I had a good run in Potato Hill State Forest to the Super-Secret Pond.

Eventually it got cold here in town and we got a storm.  I had a fine time in the gorge on a morning that started out at -8 and only got up to +8 three hours later.  I also got going on a new trail I scoped out when we got over two feet of snow last February.  My goal is to have so many trails the walkers can't ruin all the tracks.

While getting trails ready before the storm I considered the South Hill luge but decided against it.  Maybe next year.

Mo Visit

 I had a pleasant surprise in the New Year when a former student, Mo, came back to town to visit her family and had an afternoon to see me too.  She's getting her PhD at Georgia Tech and trying to figure out a better way to purify water in our increasingly thirsty and polluted world.  It seems like a race against time, but it gives me hope that she's in it.

As for her plans to get the Bills to win a Super Bowl, well...

Salvation

 There have been a few houses boarded up in Collegetown for a couple years awaiting demolition.  There is a very active re-use and salvage movement in Ithaca so I couldn't understand why they weren't doing anything with them.  It turns out they were negotiating.  Things finally got into gear in December as the demo permits had been granted and the call went out for volunteers to help. 

I was happy to jump in and take apart this chestnut window seat.  All the politicians and a couple film crews were on scene and I got interviewed while working and was asked why I thought it was important to contribute to this effort.  I responded with the history of the chestnut blight, modern tree-farming practices that harm the environment and some other mumble-jumble.  Then I told her that Kurt Vonnegut was sitting on that very seat when he found out he'd flunked out of Cornell.  When she asked me who told me that, I fessed up and admitted I made it up.  Who knows?

We want to add a dormer to our house, and this one was getting taken off intact, but it's bigger than our roof and the wrong pitch, so no go.  They cut this house up in sections and hauled them away on a flatbed truck so they'd have time to dismantle it as the demo schedule was too tight to wait.  Anyone interested in pulling nails for the next couple years should contact ithacareuse.org

 I was working in the yellow house, the other one is now in a warehouse ready to be taken apart piece-by-piece.

Madison

 Gail and I took a chance on making the drive to Madison to visit her mom and some old friends.  The lake-effect machine was shut down and with the exception of 30 miles in Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties, we didn't deal with any snow.

Carol is doing quite well, and was happy to show us around her building complex to meet many of her friends and neighbors.  We even attended a floor party.  She was willing to venture out on some cold days to see some sights, including the art museum where there was an exhibit of Mexican artists that took me back to my days as a Mexican.

We visited the arboretum and found the tree that students of Gail's dad planted in his honor.  It's doing well.

I liked this photo I saw of downtown.

Carol has this picture on her wall in her apartment.  Gail sketched it (self-portrait) in a freshman art class.

Another sketch, I'm not sure who did it, of her dad on cello with the quartet.

If you're going to visit friends from high school and college, you have to call them the old-fashioned way.

Nina made out OK at home with some of my former and current students.  We arranged for Nano and Tin Cho to take care of her, but when I got back I kept running into people who said they had stayed there and helped too.  I think they all slept in one big pile on the floor.